Moline hardware store stays open despite lack of power

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By Jennifer DeWitt | Wednesday, July 23, 2008 |

Jenny Trevor held a flashlight behind her head to shine a light on the floor as she led a customer down a dark aisle Tuesday at the family’s Moline hardware store.

“Here, it is. Chain saw oil. That will set you back $1.99,” she said just before spying a larger bottle at a better value.

“This is unbelievable,” Pam Edwards said of her shopping experience at Trevor Tru Value Hardware, which was operating for a second day without power. The Geneseo, Ill., woman was in the Quad-Cities to help friends in Rock Island with storm cleanup. “I’ve been led to cylinder oil by a flashlight.”

It was a scene repeated over and over again as Butch and Kathleen Trevor’s three daughters and other workers kept watch over the hardware store on Moline’s 16th Street — even without the benefit of electricity.

“My dad is in the hospital having surgery,” said Jenny Trevor, who works as a chemist in California. “I’m an artist too, so I had come home to paint a mural in the garden center. But when the lights went out, I put down my paintbrush and put my bib on.”

Jenny, the middle daughter, said the whole family was pitching in to “make sure customers come in and get what they need. We’re not going to go out of business because of power. We’re a small business and we do everything we can to compete, even if that means everybody comes in and rallies.”

Also home from California is her sister, Lisa Trevor, who is a chiropractor. The two sisters joined their youngest sibling, Anna Trevor, who works full-time at the seven-generation family business. “We’re relying on the youngest to be the one who teaches us,” Jenny Trevor said, adding that their cousin, Robert Bouchareb, manages the store.

Although the crew was more than ready to help whoever came in, the widespread power outage had many customers believing the store was not open. Telephone troubles on Monday added to the belief.

To alert customers, they kept the doors wide open Tuesday, put “We’re open” on the roadside sign and waited for customers at the doorway. Still, customer after customer gingerly stepped in the door and asked “Are you open?”

Customers who did find the store open cleaned it out of chain saws, Anna said, adding that another shipment will be in Thursday. Other customers came looking to rent generators, which were gone by mid-morning Monday. “That’s all we have; I assume they’ll have them all week,” she said.

The store’s own generator was being used in the back shop to power a single floodlight as Mike Hammond did repair work. “His priority is what people need immediately,” Jenny Trevor said, pointing to several chainsaws and a hedge clipper awaiting his attention. “We’re trying to help people solve their problems.”

Between customers, Anna Trevor said they were trying to stock merchandise in the dark and anything else they could do to keep the business running as normally as possible. “I’m really surprised at how smoothly it’s all going,” she added.

Jenny said the experience was like old times. “It reminds me of how, as a kid growing up, we’d have a snow day and our parents would put us in our snowsuits. We’d walk to the store and help with assembling snow blowers,” she said. “It’s what you do when you have a family business.

“We’re struggling to overcome this, but my dad and generations before faced many challenges and we feel we can, too.”

Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com.